Thursday, October 05, 2006

Stop the spin so I can get off

OK, I was flipping through the channels here and I saw something completely unacceptable. I came accross Lou Dobbs on CNN. They did a story titled "War on the Middle Class." Can you guess what the news story was about? If you guessed raising the minimum wage, then you're right. It's a little known fact that most people consider themselves middle class regardless of where they really are. So even though the story was a bunch of people saying why we need to raise the minimum wage (note it was a one sided arguement. They didn't present a single person saying why it shouldn't be raised) which only directly effects those below the poverty line, they got people assuming the story was about them by tagging the label "Middle Class" to it.Another case I saw in less than a minute. I saw the CBS Evening News had a leadoff story about Dennis Hastert. They said there are people in the Republican party calling for Hastert's resignation, but didn't name a single one. They implied Hastert had something to do with the Mark Foley situation but failed to submit any evidence that he had anything to do with the situation. Unless you're really paying attention, what you take away from the story is that the Republicans are in trouble.A few years back we tried pushing legislation through the WSA calling for the addition of Fox News in the dorms. I'm starting to reconsider the idea. Maybe we should push it through again. Anyone interested in working with me on this, let me know.

10 comments:

Anonymous
said...

I asked about that last year when I lived in a dorm and I talked it over with a telecommunications professor. Fox News charges the cable provider per user to put in on the cable service. WMU doesn't charge enough to afford it. That's why ESPN2 and some other channels are not on there. CNN is much cheaper.

Yes, it is very important that conservative students have access to Fox News so that we do not have to deal with other points of view and are allowed to believe our ideology is superior without debate. Heaven forbid that we call for a balanced news station that would actually show both points of view. We need stations that do not question the GOP. Fox News must be fed to the students like tablets of soma!

So because we want Fox, we don't wnat any other viewpoints? I think you are sadly mistaken, whoever you are. I watch Lou Dobbs and Anderson Cooper and Glenn Beck and sometimes I tolerate Wolf Blitzer's joke of a news show. However, I don't think it's a bad idea to have more than one option for my news. Fox has the highest news ratings, has for awhile, and is still climbing. I like Bill O'Reilly and Hannity and Colmes. Pardon me for wanting to not take what CNN has been shoving down my throat for forever. I know I dont have to mention this, but the vast majority of the campus (and colleges throughout the country) are overwhelmingly left-leaning. Do you think that it's a mistake that CNN is what we get, but not Fox? I wrote a couple years ago that CNN was on top for so many years that lefties are mad that people have a choice where they get their news. Well, some people don't- the liberal still won't let the students choose. And don't tell me for a second they cant afford it. $300 parking permits, $500 records initiation fees, $300 registration fees, and about 800 bucks a month to live in the dorms, and the school cant afford what- 10 bucks a month per student? Excuses, excuses...

I have nothing against Fox News per se, sir. My objection is to those who continually spout the mantra that it is somehow "more balanced" than other stations. To be so far to the right as to offset what, in your opinion, are left-leaning news outlets does not make a station more balanced. Far from it! Why not just be honest and say that you want a heavily conservative bias with your news? There is nothing wrong with that. Just be honest was my point. Why delude yourself that you are balanced? Fox may have the highest ratings but that again does not somehow make them balanced. If anything, the better statistic to bring up is the one that says that people who get their news primarily from Fox tend to be less informed than those who get their news from other sources. Before you pounce all over that one, I fully admit that that does not attest to the quality of other outlets and could be equally attributable to other factors. My point is simply that Fox News is not anymore balanced than CNN, which is hardly left-leaning. Personally, I do not own a television and do not get any of my news from such outlets because they are all quite phony. But that is just my opinion.

Re-read my post. Never once did I say anything about Fox being fair and balanced, because I know they aren't. Granted, I would much rather they stop saying that they are, but I dont think they will any time soon, unfortunately. I also never said I wanted a heavy bias. I said I like Bill O'Reilly and Hannity and Colmes. Brit Hume is okay sometimes. I want a choice. Only when we have choice can we choose to balance things our for ourselves. Why are we letting someone else decide where we get our news?

As far as I'm concerned Fox News is Fair and Balanced. It only seems to have a conservative lean because you compare it to the rest of the horribly left-leaning MSM. Something Liberals (or Conservatives for that matter) never point out is that it was Fox News that broke the Bush DUI story days before the 2000 election. If they lean so far to the right, why didn't they hold on to that information until after the election like Newsweek tried to do with the Monica Lewinsky story?

You are of course welcome to your opinion, sir. I can only say I am sorry you think so and I think it is indicative that you have some problems with your beliefs in that you are unable (or unwilling) to admit that they are very much on the right. If you recoil at the idea that you are not balanced, sir, it simply shows you that you are uncomfortable in admitting where you stand. Moreover, this idea that "the media" is somehow liberal is a red herring for a number of reasons. First, how do your prove such a statement quantitatively? The majority of media outlets in this country would be considered extremely conservative by European (even British) standards. Second, the few studies that have made attempts to look at the data suggest that, for example, pro-war commentators are regularly given much more air time than anti-war voices. This holds also for issues that are considered part of the culture wars. Your one example is insignificant in light of the numerous other examples of a conservative bias on Fox News. Think of how many times the phrase "liberal left" or "left-wing extremists" is used. Finally, to take one example, as you did, is hardly supportive of anything. Think of how Fox News mistakenly identified Mark Foley as a Democrat. Now, I could use this to suggest that Fox News is attempting to mislead viewers into believing this absolutely disgusting scandal has nothing to do with the GOP or at least has something to do with both parties. I could alternatively conclude that Fox News is a low-quality broadcaster unable to do simple fact checking. It certainly would be disingenuous to do so, however. In conclusion, there is nothing wrong with saying you are a conservative and are very much on the right. Being unable or unwilling to do so, however, suggests you might need to consider your positions more carefully if you have to somehow sooth yourself into believing you are something you are not.

To avoid this devolving into an unending debate where we nit-pick at individual points each other has made, I would direct you to the site mediaresearch.org and ask that you look it over with an open mind.

I will certainly look over the site but one need go no further than the main page to see that it is highly polarized. Therefore, it is very much dubious such a site can be offered as proof of your assertions. What, after all, does it mean to say that your mission is to "neutralize" the "liberal media"? It would be exactly the same if I were to point you to commondreams.org and suggest that they are objective or that they demonstrate how conservative the media is. I will look through it, however.